tushanshu | 05 ☣ TEXT & VOICE;

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05 ☣ TEXT & VOICE;

Looking to gather some info. Please respond with succinct list of what you would consider unalterable laws of reality in your home dimension, e.g. gravity, conservation of mass, particular laws of magic.

Will attempt to compile results into meaningful commonalities across dimensions. Maybe there's a universal law somewhere.

Would prefer text response if possible. Thanks.

B. Banner

[The message is then repeated in audio, if preceded by Bruce clearing his throat, for those that can't read English.]

[Voice | 60% encrypted to castmates & established CR.]

Finally got fed up with everyone talking over my head and made a trade to see my future.

[A beat.

In utter, dry exasperation,] You're all nuts. What kind of teamwork was that?

[ooc: Bruce is now post-Avengers! If you're not sure if you're established CR, ping me and I'll let you know if they're included, but feel free to play fast and loose.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It is a means to gain control. There's no doubt about that. Yet for Bruce it isn't so simple; he has both selfish and selfless motives for his deceptions, and they're so tangled together that he isn't able to distinguish them any longer. It makes the concept of not lying, as he's been able to put it aside here-- with Hayley and with others in Keeliai-- strange and novel for him.]

No, I know, [he agrees with her, pensive.] But I don't... get any satisfaction out of it. I'm-- honest when I can be. I've always been honest with you.

[In pretty much all respects. There's no reason for him to be as honest as he has been with her; Bruce has committed himself to it against all reason. Because she deserves it, because he's sick of lying and wants to have it out in the open, because it's simpler. He's not sure which.]

[His reply takes Hayley back for a split second before she remembers his previous statement. He's always been honest with her, but there are plenty of ways to lie without lying. She shakes her head, amused with her own confusion, knowing he can't see. When she speaks, it's with a heightened level of her usual feigned nonchalance, caring more than she admits but all too used to defaulting to that setting.]

I'm flattered. [It's more sarcastic than sincere, but only by a little.] I get what you're saying, Bruce, but it doesn't really count to want to be honest if you're not most of the time.

[He understands using sarcasm to mask sincerity, though he can't be certain that's what it is here.

He sighs faintly at her point.] What does it matter? [There's just a twinge of annoyance, partly because Hayley somehow always manages to make him a little annoyed through sheer persistence. He dislikes that she's so able to get a rise out of him.]

Deception can be necessary. It's not a, a moral absolute.

[She shrugs out of habit, then allows that dismissive nonchalance into her tone.] It doesn't really.

[A beat, then with more substance to her tone.] No, I totally agree. Deception is necessary.

[He's appeased by that agreement, and his voice lowers, deepens somehow without losing its innate gentility.]

To keep everyone safe. Sometimes you have to.

[Hayley agrees with the sentiment, but she knows that she and Bruce mean it in different ways, so she says nothing in response. After a short pause, instead, she switches tones again.]

I'll see you around.. But take care of yourself, okay?

[He's not taken aback by the abrupt end to the conversation. Bruce does that himself sometimes.]

You too, [he says seriously, before flipping off the feed.]

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05 ☣ TEXT & VOICE;

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